Chapter 113

The first morning of the new term was remarkably ordinary, proceeding smoothly and far better than the disastrous scenarios Hector had imagined. According to the timetable Professor McGonagall had handed out yesterday before the end of the welcome feast, the first class of the new term was Professor Sprout's Herbology. This was also one of the very few classes where Hermione failed to secure the top spot—Neville Longbottom showed an extraordinary talent for Herbology. Despite his notoriously poor memory, he had a remarkable knack for memorizing the complex varieties and properties of various plants, as everyone could attest. Ron even remarked that Neville must have swallowed the Herbology textbook whole, just like Hermione. Thus, in the very first class of the term, Neville and Hermione each earned ten points for Gryffindor, giving the entire house a strong start to the school year.